So…. we’re sort of in love with Josh Ritter. His story telling style of songwriting has always struck a chord with our literary hearts and then, as you may recall, he went ahead and wrote a novel, Bright’s Passage, which we loved. Oh, and then he came here and performed and signed books and hugged everyone and we’ve been drawing hearts around his face ever since. (PS – his latest album, Beast in Its Tracks, is wonderful and you should go get it.)
All of which means we are VERY excited Josh Ritter is coming back to Austin! And we want you to know about it.
Josh Ritter is going to be at ACL at the Moody Theater on January 18, 2014. Everyone should go to this. (We do hear tickets are moving quickly, too.)
Josh Ritter (acoustic show)
Sat, Jan 18th, 2014
ACL at the Moody Theater
Tickets: http://acl-live.com/calendar/josh-ritter
Free Josh sampler: http://noisetrade.com/?dc=wcjEqp
Because they’re awesome (and he’s super nice), Josh’s team has given us a pair of tickets and a signed CD to giveaway!
TO ENTER: tell us your favorite line from a Josh Ritter song AND/OR from Bright’s Passage in the comments below. We’ll select a winner at random next Tuesday, November 5.
JOSH RITTER!!!

She asks “Are you cursed?” He says “I think that I’m cured”
Then he kissed her and hoped that she’d forget that question -the curse
“And don’t think I’ll be finished
Till I’ve begun to understand this,
With you stretched out in the sunlight,
As your laughter fills my canvas.
Try to paint my picture into yours.”
Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied.
“I got a girl in the war Paul her eyes are like champagne
They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain”
I’m inside with my friends
We build fires and pretend
That the night could just bend on forever
While outside in the frost
Are the wolves and the lost
And we sing to the dogs or whoever
Oh there goes that old ghost, said the neighbors
Ain’t there nothing nobody can do
And then one after the other they all turn out their porch lights
And I can’t go to sleep without you
“Can’t Go To Sleep Without You”
Preacher says when the Master calls us
He’s gonna give us wings to fly
But my wings are made of hay and corn husks
So I can’t leave this world behind
I locked myself in with the band // But the music’s never loud enough
Perhaps the fault was mine
perhaps I just ignored
who you were always gonna be
instead of who I took you for
I keep you in a flower vase
With your fatalism and your crooked face
With the daisies and the violet brocades
And I keep me in a vacant lot
In the ivy and forget-me-nots
Hoping you will come and untangle me one of these days
I had a dream last night
And when I opened my eyes
Your shoulder blade, your spine
Were shorelines in the moonlight
There was a time I had the right key
Rolled the tumblers
Threw the bolt
It’s my 55th birthday. I’m a NATIVE AUSTINITE and I love:
I had a dream last night
And when I opened my eyes
Your shoulder blade, your spine
Were shorelines in the moonlight – Thank you!
Diana! Congratulations, you’ve won the tickets! Please send an email to online@bookpeople.com and we’ll get you set up. Thanks to everyone who participated! It’s been awesome to remember all of these songs.
she said she gave her heart to you
if it was precious why’d you lose it
but if it was golden it’d shine
if it’s big it won’t be hard to find
if it’s real it stains your hands like wine
you can look but there is no use trying
cause no matter what she said the truth
is that she never gave her heart to you
I have been loving and listening to Josh Ritter since I saw him play to an audience of 3 at a tiny club I worked at in NYC 15 years ago.
“There’s no ghosts in the graveyard
That’s not where they live
They float in between us
‘what is’ and ‘what if’
And cast our own shadows
Before our own eyes
You don’t get them up here though
They don’t come up high”
-Joy To You Baby
“Keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on…”
Sometimes that’s all it takes.
“I remember back in Illinois I found her…”
The first lyrics of his I ever hear…been a fan ever since!
First lyrics I ever heard….pardon the typo
What five letters spell Apocalypse, she asked me.
-the temptation of adam
He made her the star of the silent movies,
But all she did was mouth the words,
All she did was mouth the words, oh no.
And he cast me as the villain,
As the sheriff’s worst enemy.
I practiced falling off of buildings and out windows.
I adore this man.
With a lightness in my step, and a song in my bones
Love Josh so much!